


Words Unspoken

by OswinOs88



Series: Bastard Sons and Broken Daughters [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Feels, Mutant Powers, Orphanage, Orphans, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Strong Silent Type
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24473734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OswinOs88/pseuds/OswinOs88
Summary: He never tells her he loves her.Until that one time he did.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Bastard Sons and Broken Daughters [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/906870
Kudos: 6





	Words Unspoken

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all,
> 
> So, this is just a writing exercise.
> 
> I've been struggling with serious writers block for a while now particularly with my TWD series. I've re-watched the majority of the Marvel films and well hey, this is the result. It may form part of a larger series, collection of one shots an what not … we shall see.
> 
> Also, the Soul Mark tag, I'm not sure who created them and it's an interesting concept, one that I aim to explore (but don't hold me to it). 
> 
> Keep well & Stay Safe  
> Oswin xx

"Oh I'm a mess right now, inside out

Searching for a sweet surrender, but this is not the end

I can't work it out, how

Going through the motions, going through us.."

\- I'm a Mess. Ed Sheeran.

_***_

He never tells her that he loves her.

That's just not something he can do. At least not yet.

The last person he'd told those words to was when he was shipping off to war. He can just about remember their eyes (blue) and the way their ruby red lips had parted in surprise at his declaration. The subtle gasp, before he had turned and boarded. Never to see them again. Never to set foot back on American soil whole.

Every time he goes to say I love you, he remembers those bright blue eyes and ruby painted lips and he gets this sinking feeling in his gut like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. Bucky can't say he loves her.

No matter how hard he tries. The words get stuck in his throat. 

Jude though, she says 'I love you' whenever she can. When he grabs her breakfast or turns out the lights when she's already curled up in bed. Even bringing her aspirin when she gets one of her headaches.

Love you falls off her lips each and every time. It never sounds insincere. She has this quirk of a smile on her lips when she says so and this glint in her hazel eyes, that Buck feels himself loosen up each and every time those words are spoken.

He asked her once, when she was half asleep. _Why?_ Her answer had been incoherent at best, but then Bucky's question hadn't been as coherent as he would have liked. Jude had looked at him, eyes half blurry with sleep as she'd explained. She'd grown up in the Foster system from the age 12. She'd entered the system at the wrong age, the wrong gender and some would say given her abilities (too damaged) to even be considered worthy of adoption. Families were looking for someone a little more manageable. Someone they could mould and shape into their own image. Someone that wasn't her. The last person she had said she had loved had been her Mom before she had died. She'd been a medic in the Military, had seen first hadn't the horrors a man could do. So, she just wanted to see a little more love in the world. After all, their little rag tag group was somewhat starved of love and affection.

Bucky had called her soft. Naïve even. There was a part of him (he knew what part, the monster that Hydra had created) that wasn't worthy of being loved. That part of him that knew the world wasn't like that, would never be like that. At least not in his experience. It was a man eat man world. It would always be that way.

The silence that followed had been deafening. It was the one time that Jude had ever truly lost her patience with him. She'd grabbed the throw from their bed and stomped out into the living room to sleep on the couch. Hugo the traitor dog he was swiftly at her heels. 

It was his dog, a present from Sam to help him rehabilitate back into 'civilised society' was how Sam had put it, but then Hugo spent more time with Jude than anything or anyone else. It was something that both Sam and Steve found particularly amusing and one that Bucky found irritating to no end. 

***

Bucky had apologised. Of course he had. He had after all been brought up with manners and respect and having the woman you love pissed off with you? Well, Bucky wasn't a fool to know that, that never ended well. 

But Jude, she had this way with her to make him feel more of an asshole than he already did. She said there was no need for an apology. She'd been tired and that was his opinion and that was something that he shouldn't have to apologies for. Still, the ache in his chest had made him feel like shit for days afterwards.

He never said I love you. 

Didn't mean that he didn't though.

Jude just knew. Every time he froze or just looked at her. She knew and she smiled at him.

He never said I love you.

Until that one time he did. 


End file.
